I Couldn't Save Him
by Awesomo3000
Summary: What was going through Arcee's mind that day when she watched Airachnid kill her own partner Tailgate right in front of her very eyes? R&R!


**Hi, guys, it's me, Awesomo3000! And I'm finally back with a new Transformers story! This time, Transformers: Prime!**

**This is based on the flashbacks Arcee has in Predatory. I decided to write this since it is one of my favourite episodes of Transformers: Prime. This is my first Transformers: Prime fic, so if you have any ideas on how I could improve, let me know in your reviews. :)**

**Anyhoo, here it is! Please read and review!**

The great Battle of Cybertron raged wildly across the gloomy dark surface of the planet, Autobots locked in vicious combat with the Decepticon invaders. The once clean sky was now grey with smoke and ashes from the endless battles taking place. Powerful artillery shells and laser blasts whizzed through the air at top speed towards their intended targets as huge explosions detonated in different parts of the battlefield. One small female Autobot, a femme to be precise, and roughly about ten-fifteen feet, raced across the battlegrounds, swiftly avoiding the rapid enemy fire aimed at her as she ran. She was quite slim and blue in colour with a silver waist, a bright pink shard of metal on each of her wrists. She had blue metal breasts and two big bits of metal protruding from her back, giving them the appearance of wings.

"Arcee to Delta Team, requesting rendezvous coordinates, do you copy?" she said into her radio as the war raged around her.

"Arcee, you lost again?" came a calm, cool voice on the other end of the radio, "Your sense of direction could use some improvement." Arcee smiled to herself as she continued sprinting through the warzone, avoiding explosions detonating all around her and running through wreckages of old Cybertronian buildings.

"So could your aim, Tailgate." She replied to her comrade, "If you'd tagged that sniper back at the artillery depot, I wouldn't have had to break rank and engage the enemy hand-to-hand." Finally, after escaping the explosions and enemy fire, the femme stopped sprinting and calmly walked into what seemed like an abandoned Cybertronian construction site. There were a few tall wrecked buildings along with two gigantic crane claws embedded in the ground. Long pipes above the ground weaved in and out of the old buildings. Arcee changed her left hand into her blaster in case of any enemy attacks and walked cautiously through the ruined site, looking at her surroundings.

"From the sound of things, I'm guessing you came out ahead?" asked Tailgate.

"Try waiting up for me this time, and I'll give you the blow-by-blow." The female Autobot responded into her radio, "What's your position?"

"About half a click from the depot, due north." said her partner, "Think ya can find it, partner?" Arcee smiled at her colleague's wisecrack.

"Trust me, Tailgate. My navigational abilities are…" But before she could complete her sentence, the femme was slammed square in the stomach by a long line of a white sticky substance shooting through the air. The sticky material forced her backwards and pushed her directly into a chunk of a broken building, gluing her to its surface. Arcee grunted as she furiously struggled against the bonds of thick web holding her. The last thing she saw before another layer of web was shot across her face was a strange and creepy-looking Decepticon with four long legs coming out of its back.

0o0o0o0

Finally, Arcee groaned as she woke up and looked around her. All she saw was the walls of a big pitch black room, the only source of light coming from the brightness of the electrical bonds holding her just above the floor. The femme struggled against the clamps around her wrists and the thick white substance holding her ankles together, groaning and gasping in pain as she tried desperately to free herself. As she writhed about, she could hear the sound of footsteps gently tapping on the metal floor behind her, getting slightly louder with each step as they got closer.

"Piece of advice." Said a nasty-sounding voice as the mysterious figure paced around the captured Arcee before stopping in front of her, "Make yourself comfortable." Arcee stopped fighting against her bonds for a moment and looked up to see her captor. In front of her was quite possibly the most creepy, menacing, frightening Decepticon she had seen face-to-face since the war had begun.

The Decepticon in front of her, unlike many of the Decepticons she had battled, was a female one. Unlike her fellow teammates, her optics were a glowing purple colour instead of red. She had pitch black armour with bits of purple around her waist, arms and feet, also mixed in with a few gold parts, particularly on her kneecaps and wrists. Two long strips of black Cybertronian metal led down from the back of her waist, making it look like the ends of a dark cloak. In the centre of her chest was the recognizable symbol of the Decepticon army, coloured in dark purple. The femme's head consisted of black spikes, mainly the two large ones giving them the appearance of horns, with a hint of gold around the spikes on her cheeks. And jutting out of her back like splinters were four very long legs with spiky jagged edges, each one with a razor-sharp purple claw on the end. And when she smiled, the corners of her mouth curled up to reveal her pointed fangs within her mouth. This terrifying half-spider Decepticon was the one they called Airachnid.

The evil femme stood in front of Arcee for a few seconds before she began to slowly and ominously walk towards her, extending one of her sharp talons on her right hand and holding it out to the captured Autobot.

"You're going to be here a while." Said the female Decepticon with a cruel sneer as she got closer. Arcee, despite being bonded, tried to pull her head away from the slowly approaching claw, but sadly she couldn't. Her blue optics widened as Airachnid scraped her sharp nail down her cheek, leaving a trail of her cut metal face. Finally she pulled her claw away from the Autobot's face. The femme weakly lifted her head up to reveal the new scar on her face which was faintly leaking out green acidic steam. Airachnid smirked evilly as Arcee dropped her head to look at the floor, refusing to make eye contact with her.

"You know, for an Autobot, your resilience is quite impressive." Airachnid said at last, calmly pacing around her captive. The female Autobot ignored her and continued to stare at the floor.

"In fact, I'm guessing that no matter what I do to you, you'll never crack." The spider Con continued as she stopped pacing to look at her, "Am I right?" Her rhetorical question was met with a bitter glare from Arcee as she slightly lifted her head. The Decepticon only smiled evilly in response.

"That's what I thought." Just then, as if on cue, the mechanical doors at the end of the room in front of Arcee opened. In stepped two of the Vehicon drones, dragging with them a fallen enemy, battered and bruised all over his body. Arcee briefly looked up and took a glance at the new captive. Her optics suddenly widened in shock and horror as she instantly recognized the wounded Autobot.

"Tailgate?" she managed to gasp as the two Vehicons hauled Tailgate to the other side of the room, the Autobot quietly groaned in pain. Airachnid just stood and watched, that same unpleasant smile still planted on her face. Arcee watched in shock as the Vehicons placed clamps around her injured partner's wrists and allowed them to be magnetized by the electricity crackling down from the ceiling, hoisting him up off the ground too. Arcee turned her head to glare at Airachnid.

"What have you done to him?" she demanded. The villainous Decepticon turned around, grinning nastily and slowly pacing around her again.

"Not much… yet." She responded calmly, before stopping where she was, "Just tell me what I want to know, or… well, you're a smart Bot." She then lifted her right hand to gesture to Arcee's wounded companion.

"I think you can imagine what happens to Tailgate next." She added, still grinning cruelly. Arcee thought hard to herself; as much as she wanted to save her partner, she had to tell her the truth.

"I don't know the attack coordinates." She replied at last. Obviously not believing her, Airachnid narrowed her purple optics at her before beginning to make her way to her new prisoner of war. Arcee's optics widened again.

"I swear upon the Allspark, it's the truth!" she cried frantically, struggling against her electrical bonds. But the female Con continued to walk menacingly towards the captured Tailgate.

"We shall see." She chuckled evilly. The two Vehicons stood at the side of the giant room and watched as Airachnid extended one of the sharp claws on her legs above her head as she got closer to the Autobot.

"No!" cried Arcee desperately, "Please!" But there was nothing she could do to stop what was about to happen. She could only watch helplessly as the spider Con finally stopped in front of Tailgate, hissing as she bared her sharp fangs. She then lifted up back the claw on her spider leg… drew it far back… then she striked. The claw swiftly and painfully pierced the battle damaged Bot's metal armour, digging deep into his spark chamber and sending his Energon splattering all over the walls and floor.

"_TAILGATE!"_ screamed Arcee in horror, her cries echoing throughout the huge dark room. She then let out another cry of horror and anguish as Tailgate's blue optics flickered and finally faded to black. Airachnid only smiled in pleasure and then began to hold out her spider leg towards the femme's face, ready to finish her off. At this point, the Autobot didn't care whether she died or not. All she could think about was the horrifying truth that her own partner had been brutally slaughtered right in front of her very optics. And there was nothing she could have done to stop it. Her bottom lip quivered slightly as the spider Decepticon's claw got closer to her face.

Suddenly, the metal door on the left wall exploded, senting pieces of metal flying in all directions. Airachnid turned sharply towards the commotion and quickly changed into her spider mode. Her two legs swiftly merged into the shape of a thin spider's abdomen, as she sprouted two more spider legs from her back. In a flash, the Con turned and dashed out of the door on the other side of the room, as fast as her six legs could carry her.

Just then, a familiar Autobot of yellow and black colour slid on his side through the exploded left door, his weapons on his arms folded out and ready. He quickly stood up and aimed his cannons at the two Vehicons, firing plasma blast after plasma blast at them. Instantly, the drones were hit by the shots and fell to the ground easily. As the Autobot Bumblebee continued shooting, another red Autobot with two silver horns on his head, by the name of Cliffjumper, also ran into the room behind him. He stopped by the captive Arcee and quickly grabbed hold of her clamps, pulling hard until they finally broke off. Bumblebee put away his weapons and ran over to assist Cliffjumper in helping Arcee to her feet. Each holding one of her arms, the two Autobots began to help the traumatized femme out of the room.

"I couldn't save him!" she cried, fighting back the tears in her sad blue optics, "I couldn't save my partner!"

**Well that's it, I hope you liked it! Poor Arcee. :( Please read and review! And also, if you think I should write more Transformers: Prime stories, let me know in your reviews! **

**I also have a Transformers poll on my profile, so go and take a vote on it! :)**

**So, until my next Transformers story, Awesomo3000 out!**


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